This toaster is a great art piece. It is elegant and fun to watch it go down automatically when you put the bread in. It is easy to clean.

It toasts unevenly and it is impossible to set the time properly. Toast is eithor burnt or not cooked or raw on one side brown on the other. We spent a lot of money for this toaster hoping to get a good piece of toast. A twelve dollar toaster would do the same job.

I do not know if there is a good toaster out there but this is not the one. If I could get my money back I would get a different toaster.
It is a shame that you can't try these things out before you buy them. We looked at a lot of reviews before purchasing. The reviews were mixed and therefore of little help. Let me summarize: save your money, don't buy this toaster.

I returned this after one day of use. The unit I received toasted the side towards the center WAY more than the other side. Even from one end to the other it was really inconsistent. In addition, even at the lightest setting, the one dark side was consistently charred black. I'm not sure how anyone actually manages to use this toaster. The automatic lowering feature was cool, but unfortunately the toast that came out was inedible.

I purchased the Breville CT75XL Ikon 4-Slice Electric Toaster and have been quite happy with it, I suggest you try it first.

Not too brown, not too light, but just right. Great operating toaster, automatically lowers and raises toast. Great brushed finish that doesn't show fingerprints. Entire bottom is crumb tray so cleaning is very easy. Nice bell lets you know when toast is done and has a cancel button if you wish to bring the toast up before it is finished.

If you leave your toaster out on your counter all of the time, this one is very easy to keep clean. The crumb tray is not attached, the toaster simply sits on it so there are no clips to break when cleaning out the crumbs. The tray is also very easy to hand wash since it is a simple tray.

I really like the chime when the toast is done. It is a nice simple bell, no loud rude buzzer in the morning, and the toast isn't sitting there because I didn't notice it was ready.

It did take some time to get use to the toasting gage. It is very sensitive. Start with it very low, then move it up a bit to get to know it. The side of the bread that faces the middle gets a bit darker, this is great for crust items like english muffins. It also makes a bit of a low hum when it first heats up, that soon goes away.

I'm quite happy with this purchase.

My husband designed and built our kitchen. When he finished, we were on the lookout for great looking, yet functional appliances. The De'Longhi DTT980 Esclusivo 4-slice was our choice for its streamlined, non-toaster appearance. Because it is slim, it gives us way more counter space than a regular toaster and fits right in with our other stainless steel appliances. The long slots are great, too. We love the flexibility of using this for french bread, etc. Last night we toasted some Naan bread, that would have been impossible to do in a regular 4-slice.

We are getting used to the automatic drop (when you put a slice of bread in the front slot, it automatically goes down, a neat feature, except when you just want to put the bread in the toaster, awaiting your decision of when it goes down. The only issue we have is that even at its lowest setting, we have burnt bread around the edges. Eventually, we will get used to pushing the button early for it to stop, but this is not something we should have to worry about. For those people who want a perfectly toasted slice of bread, evenly done on both sides, we say either get a different toaster or enjoy this for all its good attributes.